role of prayer

prayer

• Praying is the time spent being in the presence of God. St Paul taught it is the Spirit within who prays for us to communicate with God.

• Prayer is an integral element of all forms of Christian worship.

• Prayer takes a variety of forms. A distinction is made between the private prayers of individuals and the public prayer of the church.

• Perhaps the most important type of prayer is petitionary prayer, in which the congregation make specific requests of God.

• This type of prayer can be illustrated from the teaching of Jesus, who compared this type of prayer to human requests.

• Christians are urged to make time to pray, as prayer is a sign of faith that will be rewarded by God. Christians believe that by praying through Jesus you can develop a personal relationship with God.

adoration

- Adoration is praising God for his greatness and admitting dependence on him

- Allows Christians to connect with God to help guide them on their continuation of moral behaviour

confession/ reconcilliation

-Owning up to sin and asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness

- Importance since sin obstructs Christians from accessing heaven and God

thanksgiving

• thanking God for his many blessing

• This is an opportunity to reflect on how good the world is and the life that a Christian is living. Thanking God for it is an important step to staying close to God

petitionary prayers

• Petition is asking God for something

• Where someone feels they need God to intervene in the world to aid the believer’s quality of life. Often this is used in desperate circumstances

intercession

praying on behalf of others

public/ traditional prayer

• Much of Christian worship is liturgical: collective worship, usually celebrated with set words and rituals, such as in the celebration of the Eucharist

• The Eucharist is seen as the greatest Christian act of communal prayer

• Public devotion can also be seen as a form of Christian witness, allowing others to see a person’s Christian faith and perhaps be converted by it

• Public prayer reminds Christians that their relationship with God is not just ‘one-on-one’ but it is shared with others. The life christ offers one is offered to others too

public devotion

• Walks of witness - Christian groups engage in walks of witness, for example on Good Friday to mark the death of Jesus. These include a visual aid, such as a cross, and often involve sharing in the carrying of it to participate in something of the experience of Jesus.

• The cross is the most known image of Christianity and such walks are also designed to be witnessed by non believers and attract them to faith in Jesus

• Mystery plays - Originating in the Middle Ages, these are public theatrical recreations of scenes from the life of Jesus. They were designed to express the faith of the performers and to enhance the audience’s understanding of key Christian beliefs

private/ spontaneous prayer

• Less formal, sometimes spontaneous expressions of the Christian’s relationship with God

• This does not require the leadership of a priest or minister

• Private devotion is believed to strengthen a person’s faith and can be a source of spiritual renewal Allows believers to personally connect with God

glossolalia

• (speaking in tongues)

• Usually produced during states of intense religious experience. The vocal organs of the speaker are affected; the tongue moves, in many cases without the conscious control of the speaker; and generally unintelligible speech pours forth

• - Speakers and witnesses may interpret the phenomenon as possession by a supernatural entity, conversation with divine beings, or the channelling of a divine proclamation or inspiration

• Some believe it to be a divine language unknown to the speaker
  Believed in mostly by Charismatic Christians, who accept a range of supernatural experiences as evidence of having been baptised or filled with the Holy Spirit

aid to christian prayer (4)

• Rosary beads - in the Rosary, a string of beads is used to count off prayers. The minimal level of conscious effort required to count off prayers allows greater concentration on the meaning of the prayers themselves

• The Stations of the Cross often include two or three dimensional representations of Jesus’s suffering, which reflects the idea that seeing an image of a scene can make the contents of the image more immediate and real. In Christian devotion, it is believed that this can intensify the spiritual experience

• Incense - the smoke can symbolise prayers rising to the heavens and creates the right ‘mood’ for worshipping

• Candles - signify light in periods of darkness and life overcoming death